Comments on: POSITION of TITLE on BOOK SPINE

By: ceci

ceci — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:36:16 +0000

Hola Peye,
muchisimas gracias por haberte tomado el trabajo de traducir el texto y postearlo!

By: Peye

Peye — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 00:41:00 +0000

Hi…

You can read an interesting note about the subject in the following link (in spanish).

http://pseudonimma.blogspot.com/2005/01/lomo-arriba-lomo-abajo.html

I had the impulse to traduce to english (Sorry, I’m spanish-spoken). Here is it:

“When the title it’s too long, the traditional custom, both latin and anglosaxon word, was to put it upwards (buttom-up) because it was the most readable way when the book was in a shelf. In 1926, the “Great Bratain and Ireland Booksellers Asociation” recommend the upward spine title. But, in 1948 the change their opinion and recommended de downward way, maybe under the influx of a ISO recommendation, funded two years earlier (1946), who decided establish the norm contrary to was in practice. Actually the UNE 50-120-92 norm, AENOR (Spain) version of the 657:1985 ISO norm, establish the downward way and points: “This form of spine title can be read easily when the book is horizontal and the cover is upwards”. This text suggest at least two commentaries: First, when the book is cover-upwards what it’s more readably is the cover title, not the spine one. Second, the upward title (“not normalize” says the referred norm) its more readable when its on a shelf. Results uncomprehendible why the ISO norm obligates such behavior, which collides with the logic. Because the books were made to be in a shelf and, in general, nor for be over the desk (in which case there’s not a problem, either) it’s legit follow the traditional rule of upward spine title, which favors the reader.”

Other reference can be found in:

http://corelforum.corelclub.org/index.php?showtopic=1473

By: Liz Tufte

Liz Tufte — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 02:42:29 +0000

Thanks for pointing out the diff between cultures. Good perspective. Both ways can be designed so that the spine is readable and tastefully done. Leave it up to an American writer with no sense of design to come up with another approach: I had to design a cover with the spine showing the letters vertically, each centered one above the other. Totally unreadable & ugly. But that’s what he wanted. Oh, well.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 05:40:05 +0000

Hi Thomas,

Thanks for the perspective of the French book spines. It does indeed sound like a germanic/latin distinction.

By: Thomas

Thomas — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 03:57:23 +0000

Being an anglophone educated in French thanks to the idiosyncrasies of the Canadian school system, I learned fairly early on in life that almost all French book spines are printed bottom-up, while almost all English book spines are printed top-down. The few German books that I own are also all top-down.

Perhaps we have a germanic vs. latin situation, with English and German going one way, and French and Spanish the other. I’d be curious to know how the Dutch, Italians, Portuguese and Scandinavians do things…

By: Stephen Tiano

Stephen Tiano — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 22:14:40 +0000

Thanks for this. Never would have given it a thought especially as I’ve not worked for any non-USA publishers. But it’s certainly worth knowing. Now you have me wondering if there are other little idiosyncratic differences in how one lays out different elements of a book’s cover, or its interior pages, outside the US as opposed to inside.